I am no longer blogging here – I have a new blog at MatthewGain.com.

I have been blogging here for a long time now, but the time has come to move to a more ‘grown’ up blogging platform.

The new blog is a Wordpress blog, which is hosted on my own domain. It allows me to do a lot of things that I simply cannot do on Windows Live Spaces, so you will have to check it out.

Thank you Windows Live Spaces – you have been great, but I have outgrown you.

So I guess there is nothing more to say than come on over and visit me at MatthewGain.com – we are putting on drinks for those who arrive early. :-)

If you want to add my new blog to your RSS reader do it here - http://feeds2.feedburner.com/Matthewgaincom 

I first came across this video of the future by Microsoft visionaries on Steve Clayton’s blog, but have started to see it turn up in a few different places now.

Microsoft gets quite a bad rap a lot of the time for not being innovative. Working at the company I can understand to some degree why this perception is the case, but in my mind it is unfair. Hopefully this video will start to change those perceptions.

Of course the vast majority of the technology in the video is still at the concept stage, but a lot of it is not completely pie in the sky. The Surface Computer is available today.

Enjoy a Microsoft vision of 2019.

I get a lot of traffic to this blog due to posts I have made about the EEA2 visa. The posts I have realised don’t provide much information and the amount of traffic suggests people are desperate for information, so I have prepared this more comprehensive post about the EEA2 visa and the process for applying.

What is the EEA2 Visa:

The EEA2 visa is available to family members of an EU national that aren’t EU citizens themselves. Under current UK law EU citizens have the right to abode and work in the UK. The visa is granted so that family members of an EU citizen can also live and work with the EU citizen in the UK. N.B. The visa only grants right to reside and work in the UK whilst the EU citizen is also in the UK, so you couldn’t work in the UK whilst your wife lives in Poland.

The visa I have was granted for five years and allows me to enter and leave the UK without restriction and allows me to work in the UK. It also allows me to register for a NI number and access NHS services.

Who is Eligible:

I believe any immediate family member, be that a wife, husband, child or parent of an EU national is eligible to apply for the visa. The visa also recognises civil partnerships (gay and lesbian relationships) and defacto partnerships. It is more difficult to establish you are in one of these relationships obviously, though it is not impossible – I was granted the EEA2 visa after proving that I have been in a marriage like relationship with m girlfriend for more than two years.

To prove that I was in a marriage like relationship with my girlfriend I had to provide the following documents:

• Wills dated from two years ago that bequeathed belongings to each others
• Lease agreements with both our names on them dating back more than two years
• Joint bank statements dating back more than two years
• Mobile phone records recording calls to each other from more than two years back
• Digital photos that showed us together over a long period of time

Excerpts from the UK Border agency Website that highlights more information on the EEA2 visa are pasted below:

Registration certificates

A registration certificate is a document issued to EEA nationals that confirms that person's right of residence under European law. You are not required to have a registration certificate to enter, live or work in the United Kingdom.

If you are a national of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia or Slovenia you are not eligible to apply for a registration certificate until you have completed 12 months of continuous employment in the United Kingdom.

Applications for a registration certificate should be made using application form EEA1. You can download it from the right side of this page.

Residence cards

Family members who come to the United Kingdom with an EEA national but who are not themselves a national of an EEA country can apply for a residence card, with some exceptions (see Family member residence stamp). The card confirms that person's right of residence under European law. Residence cards are normally valid for five years and take the form of an endorsement that is placed in the holder's passport.

Applications for a residence card should be made using application form EEA2. You can download it from the right side of this page.

Family member residence stamp

Residence cards are not immediately available to all family members. Family members who are not themselves nationals of an EEA country and who are in the United Kingdom with a national of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia or Slovenia are not eligible to apply for a residence card until the national of those countries has been employed continuously in the United Kingdom for 12 months. Until the 12 months is completed, a family member who is not an EEA national can apply for a family member residence stamp to confirm his/her right of residence under European law.

Applications for a family member residence stamp should be made using application form FMRS. This can be downloaded from the right side of this page.

Permanent residence

After you have lived in the United Kingdom for a continuous period of five years you can apply for confirmation of your permanent residence. You will need to have been living in the United Kingdom and in employment, self-employment, studying or self-sufficient throughout the five-year period.

For your residence in the United Kingdom to be considered continuous you should not be absent from the United Kingdom for more than six months each year. Longer absences for compulsory military service will not affect your residence. Additionally, a single absence of a maximum of 12 months for important reasons such as pregnancy, child birth, serious illness, study, vocational training or posting overseas will not affect your residence.

EEA and Swiss nationals will be issued with a document that confirms they are permanent residents in the United Kingdom. This document has no expiry date. Applications by EEA and Swiss nationals should be made using application form EEA3. You can download it from the right side of this page.

Non-EEA nationals will be issued with an endorsement that is placed in the holder's passport. This endorsement is valid for 10 years. Applications from non-EEA nationals should be made using application form EEA4. You can download it from the right side of this page.

Making an application

There is no charge for applications under European law. You should make sure you use the correct application form. All application forms are available on the right side of this page.

The application forms contain details of all the information that you must supply to support your application. You must send the original documentation with your completed application form.

From 01 September 2008, all completed European application forms should be sent to:

European Applications
Home Office
PO Box 306
Dept 45
Liverpool
L2 0QN

Applications for registration certificates from EEA nationals can be made in person at our public enquiry office in Croydon, but this service is in high demand and appointments are booked up approximately two months in advance. You will need to make an appointment before you visit.

Details of the location of the public enquiry office, opening times and how to make an appointment can be found in the Contact us section.

Processing times

The time it takes to process your application will depend on the type of application you make and how you submit it.

If you make your application in person at Croydon public enquiry office, we will usually process your application on the same day.

Transfer of residence card or stamp

If you are issued with a new passport and want your residence card or family member residence stamp transferred you will need to make a new application. You should complete the appropriate application form and provide the required supporting documents.

How do I apply:

The link to the EEA2 visa application for is here – http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/applicationforms/eea/eea2.pdf

As of last night www.skittles.com is no longer a site controlled by Mars, Skittles manufacturer, but is populated by content generated by the web community.

The Home Page is populated by the results of a search via Twitter for ‘Skittles’, the Products page provides a link to Wikipedia, The Friends page to the Skittles Facebook Fan Page.

The reason why I like this so much is that it reminds the people behind this brand to constantly think about their customers and consumers generally. If the public doesn’t like something Skittles does, it will be right there on its home page for all to see. Of course as the power of the consumer has risen, any mistake was fairly readily accessible for all to see anyways, but I believe this move to relinquish control to the consumer completely will further drive a consumer centred mindset at Mars.

There is a bit of PR stunt feeling about this, but I like it. It will be interesting to see how the people at Mars use the site to tap the insight of the crowd and shape the brand into the future.

It seems this viral has been around for a bit over a month or so, and judging by the fact that it has already received 1.5 million views it is no secret. But I hadn’t seen it before my friend Kirily posted it, so I figured I would pop it on here. Even if you have seen it before I reckon it is well worth another view.

How good is Hugh Jackman’s opening sequence to the 2009 Oscar ceremony. One talented fellow.

There was an article in today’s Observer about how the British born Marie Claire editor, Joanna Coles is to star in an American reality TV series about working at the magazine. Following in the wake of The Devil Wears Prada, a movie about working at a US fashion magazine, and Ugly Betty, a TV series on the same topic, there is no doubt that there is an appeal for this type of content and is likely to be a success.

In my mind this is a perfect example of a media company extending beyond its traditional channel to build an audience and advertising stream in another medium. As the credit crunch bites and advertising dollars become more scarce, will this out of the box thinking give Marie Claire on its competitors? Time will tell.

Image borrowed from here.

Just saw this on Steve Clayton’s blog and thought I would get in on the fun. He reckons it is a spoof and I tend to agree, but time will tell I guess.

UPDATE 23/2/09 – Well we now know this was clearly a hoax. No surprises really.

Today Elizabeth and I took advantage of the sun to take a stroll along our local Golborne Road and then up Regents Canal to Primrose Hill.

We took our camera and grabbed some shots which I have put here to share.

Trellick Tower seen from Golborne Road

Fruit stalls on Golborne Road

Trellick Tower up close  

Elizabeth on Regents Canal

Elizabeth up close at Primrose Hill

View from Primrose Hill

As Facebook turns five, should it consider its practice of breaking hearts?

A couple of weeks ago the newspaper headlines declared “Chelsy Davy let the world know that she had broken up with Prince Harry using a thoroughly modern tool: her 'relationship status' on social networking site, Facebook.” And in last Sundays Observer, there was a full page story on the very same topic. The author of the Observer article, Georgina Hobbs-Meyes, a 24 year old who has just broken up with her Facebook cheating husband, laments, “once you announce you announce your relationship on Facebook…your love life is on show to all.” Hobbs-Meyer goes on to state that rather than change her relationship status she has opted instead to simply delete it and avoid the “cascade of news through friends’ newsfeeds.”

It was this very cascade of unwanted news and attention that I discussed with George Hopkin and Christian Payne at a recent Social Media Breakfast. When we were chatting, Christian described the flood of consoling messages he received when he changed his relationship status from married to single. The thing is Christian wasn’t breaking up, his wife simply didn’t want to be linked to from his Facebook page, but there was no option to avoid the news cascade.

This is something I have thought about a few times. The smart people at Facebook could come up with a way to change your status without announcing it to your Facebook news feed, so why haven’t they? My theory is that news items announcing relationship changes generate a very high rate of comments, private messages and general page views. All of these mean more time on the Facebook network, which is good news for those trying to sell ads for Facebook (full disclosure - my employer Microsoft is one of the companies that sells ads for Facebook). Is this another case of Facebook putting ad sales ahead of the desires of its users?

Image stolen from here.

The biggest day on the North American advertising calendar The Super Bowl happened last night our time.

What with credit crunch and all there was a lot of reports in the media about how the big car brands were going to be absent this year and how not all the slots were selling at the premium rates. In the end there was still a lot of new creatives that were rolled out. To see the full list of ads that aired visit the Ad Age dedicated page.

I have embedded my favourite three ads below for your viewing pleasure.

Well it is dumping down out there with approximately 15 cm of snow over night. All London buses are off the road, the tube network is in disarray and still the snow falls. According to BBC it is the worst snow in 18 years. Read the full BBC story here.

Some pictures from out the front of our house – these progress from the light dusting last night through to the heavy snow we awoke to:

It is now official, Elizabeth and I are returning to the sunny shores of Sydney, Australia.

It is with really mixed emotions that I share this news. I have truly loved living and working in London. One feels so much more a part of world developments and a player in new and developing trends here. From a work point of view, the UK, as the hub for Europe, is seen as the second most important market behind the US – it will be this that I miss most when working back down under. Proximity is also another thing I will really miss. Sydney is a bloody long way from just about anywhere.

But there was never any doubt that we were going back. The sun, surf and family and friends is just too big a magnet for now. Oh and we are also getting married in February – here (click on the architectural images as it isn’t built yet).

We leave here in mid April and will travel for three months backwards along the silk route. We start in Turkey then continue through Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China and then Thailand. We are knee deep in visa applications at the moment and building Excel matrices, budgets and travel plans nightly.

Neither Elizabeth or I have plans yet for work when we get home, but are eagerly accepting any information or contacts. So drop me a mail at matthewgain@hotmail.com if you have some leads.

More updates to follow.

If only I had a penny for every blog post I have read about Twitter. For a long time now there have been predictions that the tipping (or Twipping as I like to refer to it) point has been reached. And with discussions about it on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, articles in mainstream media and these results being registered by Hitwise, it is hard to disagree. But what will be the trends regarding Twitter and brands trying to reach their consumers using the medium?

Here are my predictions for marketing and Twitter in 2009:

1. Growth will continue to grow exponentially and mainstream media attention will mirror the hype around Facebook in late 2006/early 2007
2. Stacks and stacks of money will be thrown at Twitter apps, but like Facebook apps this will be a short lived fascination and the return on investment will decrease quickly
3. The yoof will realise the power of the medium and have their voices heard in marketing boardrooms all over the world
4. Those cheeky monkey yoof will realise they are being heard and monitored and will purposely mess with marketeers heads by sending conflicting messages
5. Brands will realise they can improve their customer satisfaction if they refocus their efforts from managing inbound customer enquiries to identifying how to proactively engage users at the point of need
6. Some brands will not get when to engage and interrupt conversations simply because someone mentions a product name
7. There will be lots of user generated PR tactics from mobile phone brands that involve Twitpic
8. Phones will start marketing themselves as perfect for Twitter just like 3 did with the INQ and Facebook
9. Traditional advertising on the medium, like on Facebook, will fail
10. The cool kids and trend setters will move on, yet lots of marketeers will still think they are reaching them

But hey what do I know? Disagree with me, let me know what you think.

The Burger King Twitter feed impressed me when they first contacted me having just tweeted about their marketing, though it didn’t engage me long term and I unfollowed two weeks later:

I wondered not that long ago ‘can the transparency continue?’ With today marking Obama’s inauguration and the launch of a new White House blog, it seems that the commitment to new media and hopefully the transparency that works best when engaging on this medium will remain.

There is no Whitehouse Twitter or Flickr account yet and it seems comments are removed from the Whitehouse Blog, but it is good to see his commitment to continue to use new media now within the President’s office. Keep it up and keep evolving it I say.

Reading Young PR today I came across this news.com.au story about Aussie behaviour in the workplace.

The survey the article sources comes to the conclusion that us Aussies are considered to behave rudely in the workplace by our US and UK colleagues. There are some other dubious findings, apparently we bring too many friends into the office and also get offended if we aren’t offered a drink. The survey has been done for PR purposes by ServCorp – a virtual office company.

Being in PR I know only too well not to put too much credence in these kind of surveys, and the findings seem a little on the bizarre side, but I do think there is some truth to the finding that we are rude.

Having worked in the UK for the last two years I have learnt a lot about my working style and how best to curb some of the behaviour that will get me in hot water over here. Of course these things will be different for different people, but in case you are considering working here in the UK I have prepared five top don’ts:

• Don’t be so direct – us Aussies tend to ‘tell it like it is’ however from my experience the ‘direct’ trait is almost unique to us and gets a lot of people offside. So take your time, sugar coat bad news a little, and if your client asks you what you think about their idea – maybe suggest ways how it could be improved rather than saying it is shit. Which brings me nicely onto my next point:
• Don’t bloody swear all the farking time – I swear a lot. I tend to do it in general language, I’ve been known to do it when speaking with my boss, I’ve often done it when speaking with media, and have even done it when pitching for new business. Sometimes it is OK, because it grabs attention, but use it sparingly or you might find find yourself alienating some fuckas.
• Management hierarchies matter – in Aus we tend to be pretty lax about management hierarchies. It isn’t unusual for say an AD in a PR agency to brief the AE skipping the AM and likewise for an AE to ask the advice of the AD skipping the AM on the way up. We do this because it may save some time, be cheaper, or simply because we are so bloody direct and that is the most direct way to get the job done. But here in the UK it can get people’s nose out of joint. Use the chain of command or at the very least ensure the middle person is involved in the communication.
• Don’t be the annoying proud Aussie – us Aussies have a beautiful country, we have wonderful beaches, generally sunny weather and like a drink, but so do people of other nations. There are beautiful beaches outside of Aus and some of them have rocks, and you know rock beaches are ok, it tends to mean the water is crystal clear. Don’t carry on about the weather there are plenty of places in the world that have lovely weather and Brits know only too well their weather is shite. And yes we do drink, but we aren’t the best drinkers in the world, I think some people in the North of England have claimed that and it ain’t pretty. So be proud of being an Aussie, but recognise that other people are proud of where they are from too and realise that ever country has its good parts.
• Don’t think people will hire you because Aussies are known as hard workers – there are lots of hard working Aussies and there are lots of lazy Aussies. There are hard working Brits, Poles, Yanks, but there are also their lazy equivalents. Most British employers will be more concerned about the fact you come from a small market that they consider to be quite behind the UK market – this is what you should be focussed on addressing first.

Us Aussies get on well with the Brits. We share so much in common and there is a really fun rivalry between both countries – especially on the sporting field. But there are fundamental differences when working over here. In my case I spent six months not knowing what I didn’t know and so went about my business thinking it was easy and exactly the same as back home. The next six months were some of the hardest in my working life as I realised what I didn’t know. I thought I would never learn what I needed to know about doing business here in the UK. Now at the two year mark I know what I don’t know – I think. I have now curbed those most abrasive aspects of my work behaviour and have also learnt to warn people I work with that working with me will be different. And do you know what I haven’t been fired yet.

If you have other advice I would love to add it to this.

Image stolen from here.

My colleague and friend Steve Lamb (AKA @actionlamb)was giving demonstrations of the Windows 7 Beta at Tuttle Club yesterday held at the ICA.

Chris Dalby, who I didn’t get to meet there captured a video demo from Steve and posted on Vimeo – embedded below for your viewing pleasure.

In a move reported by the SMH The Telegraph Media Group publisher of the UK’s Daily Telegraph is outsourcing the production (subbing, layout etc) of some of its sections to Sydney’s AAP owned Pagemasters.

Pagemasters is set to produce the Telegraph’s travel, motoring and money pages and parts of The Sunday Telegraph according to the article.

Good for Australia – not so good for journos based here in London.

It reminds me of the term ‘Mexicans with mobiles’, used in the 90s in reference to Australian film crews who could produce Hollywood funded films more cheaply than their yank colleagues.

Hearing of this got me to wondering how long it is until they start creating the copy for these sections offshore? Is it essential that a travel journalist writing for the UK market is based in the UK? Perhaps not. Then assuming this, how long will it be until Australian PR agencies will have UK based clients interested in targeting UK journalists based in Sydney? Food for thought perhaps.

I have just returned from the weekly walk to the local Sainsbury’s, where Elizabeth and I do our shopping, and by god it is cold. The trip up wasn’t too bad, but coming back, where our hands were out of pockets holding our reusable shopping bags, was rather less enjoyable. It is only now, having been back for 20 or so minutes that my hands have lost their blue hue and returned to normal colour.

MSN’s weather page is currently reporting it is –3 Celsius, but due to wind chill will feel more like –8 Celsius! So why is it so cold? Well, according to BBC, the cold snap has been caused by icy winds travelling across Scandinavia and the North Sea and hitting the British Isles. Weather is expected to warm up again tomorrow.

But it isn’t all bad. My sis Rochelle who lives in Biarritz received some snow and the water freezing over in Trafalgar Square is pretty cool.

Check out a video of the frozen lakes here - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7813406.stm 

Rochelle in the snow:

Since coming to the UK I have grown quite partial to drinking the odd ale and bitter when at the pub.

Not sure why all our beers in Aus are lagers. The odd ale or bitter wouldn’t go astray in my mind.

I have been working in PR for some 7 or so years now, but before that I studied a Bachelor of Arts (Communication) at The University of Newcastle. I really enjoyed my degree and got a lot out of it, but reading this post on The Good, The Bad, The Spin, a US based PR blog, makes some really good points.

Basically the post makes the point that PR is a business function and has much more to do with marketing, sales and target audiences than it does with journalism – so then why is the basis of a degree in PR journalism and not business?

Were I to have my time over again I would take a business/marketing degree over a PR degree – much more useful in my life as a PR than understanding how to lay a page out for a magazine.

Dear Mr Rudd,

I was oh so excited when you came to power. Hell I even came out of my blogging wilderness to post an albeit rather short post about it.

You immediately ratified the Kyoto Protocol for Australia, promptly set about apologising to the indigenous people of Australia, and you admitted that going to war in Iraq was wrong and committed to pulling the troops out of Iraq. You then fixed some of the most harsh industrial relations reforms from the previous Howard government and hosted the 2020 summit, which may have been little more than a PR stunt, but was none the less a very successful one.

Having done all these good and impressive things your approval rating soared to 71% – the highest ever recorded according to Neilsen.

But I must object to some things you have done in the recent past.

The opening of The Easter Island detention centre and the commitment to make a measly 5% reduction on 2000 level carbon emissions seems like the decisions the last Australian government would have made. I am no expert on these things, so excuse my ignorance if I don’t fully understand the complicated nature of these decisions and topics.

But something I do have more knowledge on is the internet. Now, the censorship of the internet your government is proposing, Mr Rudd, in my opinion, has the potential to slide towards Chinese style internet censorship.

Of course child pornography is terrible and I don’t doubt that the internet has encouraged the spread of child pornography, but the acts of a tiny minority should not impede the access to, or the performance of the internet (filtering may slow internet speeds by up to 75%), for the vast majority.

Attempting to censor the internet is just plain silly. The sheer size of the net and its ever changing nature make it unfeasible technically. You can view a list of some of the technical issues on the No Clean Feed site Learn page.

There are also a lot of questions that the proposed bill leaves unanswered, again from No Clean Feed site:

A few posts down I detailed how I had my photo taken by Mario Cacciottolo as part of his project to capture people holding a a large notebook with something someone once told them written on it.

Well mine is now live. I have pasted the image below, but if you want to listen to my commentary you need to visit the site - http://www.someoneoncetoldme.com/gallery/10122008 

Pic grabbed form Mario’s site:

Last night I went for drinks with Maggie Hansdorfer the sister of an old friend of mine – Agnes Hansdorfer.

Anyways we were talking about Agnes, the things we love about her and the things that drive us crazy, when Maggie asked where I lived in NYC. I said I have never lived in NYC, so Maggie asked if I live in Seattle when Agnes lived there, I said no again. I said that the fact of the matter was that we met at E3 in 2005 when were both doing PR for Xbox, her in the US and me in Aus. We chatted a bit at the event and she helped me get some interviews with US execs and that was it. We swapped cards at the end and I returned to Aus and she to Seattle.

We emailed a few times when we got back and then we added each other on Messenger. And that’s where in Agnes’s words, we became ‘fast friends’. For a long while we spoke about her constant boy issues (she is in a good long term relationship though now) and countless other things from holiday destinations, to how she should have her hair and what the surf had been like that morning in Sydney. we don’t speak every day, though if you were to tally up all the days between when we started chatting and now, it would be more often than not that we had at least one Messenger conversation.

We have met up once since that first time, she stayed a night with me in London on the way to a family holiday in Greece, but other than that it has been wholly a friendship that has evolved been sustained on Messenger – oh and we have the occasional phone call.

So this post is dedicated to Messenger and the wonderful friend it has brought me in the way of Agnes – hope to see you in NYC in the new year Agnes.

Oh yeah I should say I work for Microsoft, and before you say anything this isn’t about them it is about friendship damn you…

Agnes and me when she was in London last year.

Twitter, the lovely little service that it is, introduced me to Mario Cacciottolo today. You see, we met up so that Mario could take my photo. No, not in a model sense, though with my looks it wouldn’t be out of the question – ahem…

Instead, Mario took my photo as part of a project he is undertaking where he takes a photo of a person, at least one a day, holding up a hand written phrase someone once told them.

You can read more about it here – on Mario’s page for the project.

Mario only planned to do the project for a short period of time, but now a couple of years in, is not really sure where it will end up. He has no desire to make money out of the project, though would like one day to host an exhibition in a gallery. I think it is a wonderful idea and would encourage anybody interested get in contact with Mario either on twitter via @marioSOTM or via his email - mario[at]someoneoncetoldme[dot]com.

Mario will post my picture on Friday and I even recorded an audio message that I assume will be posted next to it. What did someone once tell me? Well you will just have to wait won’t you.

UPDATE – It will actually be next week not this Friday that Mario will post the picture.